(For the equivalent of one can of condensed cream soup, mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1 1/4 cup water. Cook until thick)

I keep it in the pantry and as you can see the recipe is taped on the outside. (so I don't lose it...cause I will if it ain't connected!)

Anyway, the lady that showed us how to make this awesome stuff made up a sample. She just cooked up some elbow macaroni and mixed it with the soup, added a little cheese and warmed it through in the oven.

It was GOOD!!

Last week I was in a pinch as to what to cook for dinner so I made that same recipe up but added chicken. The pan was emptied!

That rarely happens at our house.

Tonight, after painting furniture all day.(post to come later) I didn't really want to cook all day.

Lightbulb...

I will make that again but add something new.

Todays addition??? The ever loved, every devoured while still too hot to touch.

BACON.

I don't know about all of you but bacon is the

candy of meat for me! I have to make a few extra pieces just... well just because!

Chicken Bacon Noodle Casserole

There are no exact measurements. Make it according to your family size.

Elbow macaroni, cooked

Cream of Something soup, thickened

cheddar cheese, grated

chicken, shredded

bacon, cooked and diced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix to combine. Pour in a 13x9 inch baking dish. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until bubbling.

Remember: You can add anything you want. I am trying to figure out a way to sneak in broccoli. Any ideas?

198 comments:

we've probably eaten this mac and cheese 4 times since that relief society lesson too! So easy and so good! I always put in loads of broccoli because it makes me feel healthy despite all the cheese (hey its calcium and protein right?). The best is to make it with pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar

I never thought about making my own soup mix! Casseroles using Campbell's condensed soups are my go-to recipe, and I usually end up adding odds and ends that we have left over. This mix would be great for me! Thanks for sharing!

I found this on Pinterest too. The best thing about this mix is that it's gluten free! I can't tell you how many recipes I've had to pass over because they called for cream of something soup and all the store brands have gluten in them. This has saved my sanity!!

"the candy of meat" Love it!! I'd seen a similar idea a few years ago but have never tried it. I think I have all the stuff in my pantry so it's going to the top of my to-do list for today.

As for sneaking in veggies, my fav thing to do is shred zucchini and/or squash into stuff. If you use a fine grater all you can see are small specks that can be passed off as seasonings and the taste is so mild no one realizes it's there!

This is a great recipe I've been using in place of condensed soups for a while. For those of you who watch sodium like me (why thank you, high blood pressure), you can omit the bouillon cubes (which have lots of sodium) and just mix with low sodium chicken, beef or vegetable broth instead of water when it's time to use. Works great!

It's actually very rare to be salt sensitive, to cause high blood pressure. Usually it's the high carb diet (which is almost always high sodium). Sadly though, this has a lot of cornstarch which is high carb. I wonder if xanthan gum could be used.For more info on hypertension and why people usually are not salt sensitive (and why doctors use that as dietary advice) check out Gary Taubes' new book on sugar. Once I went low carb, my blood pressure dropped. And I eat WAY more salt now! :)

To make it cream of celery you would just add celery at the time you add the water and make it into soup.Yes the bouillon to milk ratio is high but I think when you add the cornstarch into it it evens out. I can't quite remember how much one batch makes because I make a ton at a time to fill the container but I imagine you get 1 cans worth for each recipe. If I am wrong let me know! Thanks,Vicky

You had me at Bacon! Found you via Pinterest, I have left over shredded chicken and a few slices of bacon in the fridge. I'll be making this tomorrow! As for adding in veggies, I love adding shredded zucchini and shredded carrots to my recipes. If you need to hide the veggies more, you can do cauliflower.

Where do you find bouillon cubes (or powdered bouillon) without MSG in it? That's the main reason I have for not buying the condensed soup, but all the cubes and powder have it, too. I use bouillon paste for most things, which doesn't have MSG, but I don't think it would work in a dry recipe.

I found powdered bouillion at my Kroger that is all natural and has no MSG! It's not low sodium, but better than the other junk for sure. I just hope 1/4 cup of powdered is equivalent to 1/4 crushed cubes! I'll probably mix it with broth when I make it just in case.

@ Christy: Whole Foods has no-sodium bouillon cubes. WFM also ensures all of their products are free of preservatives: so no MSG or anything else created in a chemistry lab. I love the no-salt vegetable cubes.

It just makes a cream base. I think the chicken cubes are just for flavor. You could use vegetable or beef if you wanted. That is the good thing about this recipe. You can change it to suit your needs.

Found on pinterest like I saw some others said. To disguise veggies, a secret I've used is to puree them and mix into the dish. Works better for some dishes than others, like works great for soupier dishes, dishes with sauce, or some other type of more liquidy base. However, the veggies are really liquidy when pureed, more pasty, so you can play around with different veggies for different dishes and find what works for you!

Arrowroot starch is also gluten free. It's an excellent substitute for cornstarch and flour as a thickening agent in sauces, gravies, pie fillings, and puddings. Arrowroot starch is neutral tasting and tolerates acidic ingredients, such as citrus.

I add broccoli and spinach to a lot of my recipes! The trick with broccoli is to dice it up and with spinach, puree it then stir it in...def. going to try this recipe! I LOVE all things cream of mushroom :)

We love this mix! I made one recipe's worth and it seems to make 3-4 servings. It's perfect and I feel so much more less guilty! No more "junk" from the cans! Now, I need to get my hands on the no-sodium boullion! I also made the chicken bacon noodle bake for my family with the Dreamfields very low carb macaroni and turky bacon! It rocked!!! Thanks so much!

thanks for sharing this! I was searching for something like that, since cans of condensed cream soups are really hard to find here in Germany ;) I used to use packages of instand cream soups instead, but this is so much better!

I'm curious as to whether this is thick like undiluted condensed soup or diluted. Because there are some recipes I make that call for undiluted condensed soup. So would you use it the same as that? Or add less water for a thicker consistency?

I'm going to have to try this! I'm still kind of new to cooking, and i've also started making my own mixes, like ranch dressing mix and such. Thanks! I've saved this on pinterest and i'm sure i'll be very glad I did. :)

My dinner tasted very... umm... IDK. I tried the macaroni, but added broccoli and ham. I am wondering if I did the onions wrong. Is it 4 tablespoons of minced onions? Is freeze dried different than the regular minced onions? Is that where I went wrong?

This is the best substitute I think I have found so far in cooking. Cooking for family with food allergies (MSG) and heart conditions (low salt/fat/cal etc) can be challenging at times and this is such a wonderful find! I used this to make a poppy seed chicken casserole and I could not tell the difference from the canned stuff! I subbed low sodium chicken stock for the water and bouillon and it turned out great (to combat the no MSG and low sodium family requirement) and used 2 cups of dried milk as recommended in the above comments. I blogged my experience at:

Might anyone happen to know the 10 oz. can equivalent of soup mix to use assuming I left the dried milk out of the mix and instead incorporated soy milk when cooking the soup? My husband is lactose-intolerant and dairy-free powdered milk is hard to come by. Thank you!

This looks amazing! Does anyone know if there is a good substitute for the cornstarch? I am allergic to corn and always make my casseroles from scratch as a result since corn is in about everything! So this is a great recipe! Thanks for posting!

I was thinkging about your question of how to sneak in broccoli...have you ever tried roasted broccoli? Its soo delicious! Even my kids will eat it and its super easy...take a broccoli bunch and cut the floret off cut up the pieces, I even cut pieces of the stem (I slice it super thin into sort of like chips) and toss with a little olive oil, put it on a cookie sheet, top with thinly sliced onions if you like, add your favorite seasonings like garlic,rosemary, sea salt etc, and cook at 350 for about 30 minutes. It will get kind of tender crisp, the pieces that get kind of burnt looking are like candy for me! its sooooooo wonderful. Try it!

Vicky@One Orange Giraffe - ok, so you just make 1 batch of the above recipe, and dump it in the jug, make another batch, dump it in the jug, etc. until the jug is full??? I plan to do the same as you - keep a larger container of it in my pantry but I just wasn't sure how much dry milk, minced onions, etc. that I would need in order to do that.

Yep that's what I did. If I was better at math I would probably be able to do it an easier way. Next time I make it I am going to note on the side of the jug how many batches it takes to fill it. Might make life a little easier the next time round.

Is there any substitute for the non fat dried milk? I have a recently developed dairy allergy, but most of our favorite foods have cream of something soup, and I've been searching for something I can make ahead of time like this. (There's tons of make the liquid first and save in fridge) but I'm afraid they'll go bad before I get to them. Thanks in advance!

Thank you so much for sharing this. I get so discouraged by all the yummy recipes with cream of something required and of course I don't have it on hand. This will be a huge sanity saver! BTW, I found you on Pinterest.

I so appreciate the replacement for the soup! Thanks! I just started a blog reviewing recipes found on Pinterest, and this one is here: http://pineatreview.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/replacement-for-cream-of-something-soup/

Vicky@One Orange Giraffe - I'm so excited to try this! I keep seeing this question, but I'm just not quite understanding the answer (sorry). So many of my recipes call for a can of cream of something soup that has not had the liquid added back into it. So how much water would I have to add to the 1/3 cup mix in order to reach the consistency of the soup as it comes out of the can, before adding anything else?

I just made a vegan version of this!!!! Since becoming vegan I haven't found an easy and quick cream soup, and, being Mormon..this was a problem. Thank you SO much for the inspiration! I hope to have the tweaked recipe on my vegan blog this week! I an enjoying cream of asparagus right now as I write this and it's delish!

What an awesome idea, I LOVE this! AS far as the veggie thing goes, my favorite is to puree sweet potato and divide it up into little ziploc baggies, about 2/3 a cup per baggie and freeze. The I mix in the sweet potato from one ziploc baggie when I'm making kraft mac and cheese, and my 4 year old doesn't know what hit her...it's awesome. Puree-ing is my friend.

Found you on Pinterest, too! I am looking forward to whipping a batch up so I can finally enjoy cream of __ recipes my hubby makes. I am on a gluten-free diet, so since Campbells and most other brands thicken their cans with flour, I am pleased to see this is not! The GF cans are overpriced and not tasty at all. Thanks for sharing this :)

Found this on Pinterest...THANK YOU!! I have a hubby who eats gluten free and that is the one thing I have had to give up, cream of whatever soups! This will work wonderfully in place of and I can do those special casseroles again!

I'm so excited to find this. My son requires a dairy-free diet and I've missed being able to use the creamed soups as a recipe base. I spotted some powdered soy milk at the health food store that I think I'm going to pick up and try this with. Thank you!

Sorry if someone already asked this, but once you add the 1 1/4 c. water to the 1/3 c. mix, is that equiv. to one can of store bought condensed soup before or after you add the water to the store bought condensed soup?

broccoli might be hard to 'hide' but puree of cauliflower would probably hide well in the soup :) after all, the 'smart' kd is noodles made out of cauliflower, and the colour won't give it away as a vegetable... just a thought

I just made up your soup mix recipe, and did some quick math at the same time! I got 7 "can" equivalents from this recipe, costing about 46 cents per "can". According to weight, it should take about 8 of your recipe for a gallon sized container. Thanks so much for posting this!!

Hi! I think this recipe is great and I can't wait to try it! I make a lot of crock pot meals at home so I was wondering do I thicken the recipe before adding it to the crock pot? Or do I just mix it all together and let the crock pot do the work for me? Sorry if someone asked this question already!

Chicken Bacon Mac & CheeseOk...looked good, but I didn't have a can of creamed anything. I also had no idea what the thickened cheddar was. So I made a basic white sauce (butter, flour, milk). Added about 2 oz of Velveeta, about 1/3 c. shredded cheddar, and about 1/2 c shredded dubliner cheese (kinda nutty like parmesano reggiano)to the white sauce. Added chicken, bacon and 1/2 pkt of dry ranch dressing mix. I also added frozen peas, and topped with crumbled, stale white bread (2 slices) drizzeled with melted butter. Baked and voila! My fam loved it! Thanks for the inspiration.

Looks delish!!! I would just say be careful what bouillon you use and make sure you check the label because they are sometimes filled with worse then the soup you are trying to avoid and have a lot of MSG. Other then that I will so be making your casserole it looks great!

I had the same question as Catherine, above... if I'm making a crock pot recipe, can I just mix the powder and liquid and throw it cold into the crockpot? Or does it still need to be pre-cooked on the stove first? I'm wondering if maybe I should just mix it with a little less liquid, since the crockpot won't really thicken/reduce? Anyone try this?

Thanks for the recipe! I challenged myself to replace 12 store bought items with DIY alternatives in 2012. I go through lots of "cream of.." I love that I can always have it on hand and spend less!I'm blogging my progress at http://www.cindyriddle.com. I will be sure to link you when I post how this recipe works for me!

Is the non-fat dried milk "instant"(very small granules) or not instant(powdered)? I know that can make a difference in how much you use. If it's instant I can use the same amount. If it is not instant I'd have to double my instant to make the same amount of milkiness. Just want to be sure. Thanks a bunch!

This separates in the crockpot. I've done it where I just put it together (mix and milk) in the crockpot and today where I cooked it and thickened it before putting it in the crockpot. Both times it has separated and results in a greasy mess.

thank you for this. I am going to RePin and put into my Gluten Free blog in which I post great ideas for gluten free, sometimes dairy free, and nightshade free. THIS IS A GREAT IDEA and will fulfill two of those three categories. This will help the mission of that blog, How to survive the work place gluten free, (you know pot luck and people always bringing in food?).

I tried this and it was great! Don't know if it's worth it all the time, BUT since I found that Wyler's has a sodium free bouillon I will be using it for when I have guests that have sodium restrictions. Yeah!!

I plan on making a gallon of this yumminess as well! Oh, by the way, a great way to add broccoli to the mix? Toss cooked broccoli in a blender & puree...my kids never knew what hit them! LOL Hope it helps...

Love this stuff, use it in everything! Most of the time, I make it with veggie bouillion, but I've done chicken and beef and it doesn't affect the taste of my dishes at all. And Nicole M., yes, instant and powdered are one-in-the-same.

Is the recipe listed for the cream of soup substitute equal to a can of the actual soup when all is said and done, or is the recipe for a gallon? Trying to figure out how much I need when doing multiple conversions is impossible when I don't know how much this is starting with. Please help? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for sharing this will be awesome for me and my little family! I hate those condensed coup, full of yucky preservatives and not to mention the stomach ache I always get. Thanks for the substitute, I think you have just changed my life!

I make something similar. I got tired of always being out of cream of chicken soup for certain recipes. Mine is a little different. I do not use the bouillon cubes. I use the granulated in a jar or sometimes save the packets from Ramon Noodles flavoring. I also use a little dairy creamer to make it a little richer. My recipes makes the equivalent of 13 cans of soup. I now always have it in my pantry.

I have a casserole recipe that a calls for cream of chicken and cream of celery. Would I puree the celery and add to the mix instead of the buillon or use a vegetable buillon base and add the celery to it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING THIS!! WHEN I GO TO THE STORE TO BUY CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP FOR MY BROCOLLI CASSEROLE, OMG! CAMPBELLS IS TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE AND THE STORE'S BRAND I'M NOT CRAZY ABOUT. I HAVE A RECIPE FOR BROCCOLLI CASSEROLE, I WILL POST IT HERE AND THEN YOU CAN CHANGE THE CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP TO YOUR WONDERFUL "CREAM OF WHATEVER" SOUP! THANKS FOR SAVING US MONEY! GOD BLESS YOU! HERE'S THE BROCCOLLI CASSEROLE RECIPE (BY THE WAY FOUND YOU VIA PINTEREST!): BROCCOLLI CASSEROLE One 1lb bag frozen chopped or cut broccolli 2 beaten eggs 1 cup mayonnaise 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup 1 cup grated cheese (I use cheddar) 1 jar (drained) sliced mushrooms.

Topping: crushed cracker crumbs, Ritz or Saltine and a few pats of butter or margarine

This is a rich casserole, so if you need to make substitutes, by all means. But I will tell you, EVERYONE LOVES THIS RECIPE AND I CAN'T MAKE ENOUGH OF THEM AT CHRISTMAS! LOL Cook broccolli according to directions and drain. Mix all ingredients together into broccolli except topping ingredients. Put in casserole dish. Sprinkle topping of crushed crackers on top and put a few pats of butter or margarine on top. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. VOILA! It's so filling you could actually have it as a meal in itself! lol

Thank you for the recipe, I am going to try today . I make a broccoli chicken in my crock pot.. I use boneless chicken breast, cheese/ cream soup, and when it has cooked in crockpot for a few hours I put in fresh broccoli. Then I make yellow or chicken rice and toss in crockpot and sprinkle cheddar cheese on top.. Yummy.. Sorry it is not an exact recipe. I just add stuff as to my liking.. I hope your family likes it!

^flour turns into a yucky paste when liquid is added. proceed with caution... that is why a roux is made to thicken a soup or sauce with flour.

Great recipe! I am aware of a home-based biz (think pampered chef or scentsy) that literally is all about just mix with water bases. SO expensive... THINK I'll try this and see how it compares! Oh, and 1 thing they make out of the base is country gravy for biscuits n gravy. Maybe I will try this without the herbs to see if that works for that! YAY! I'm soo geeked to try this out!!!!!

If you want to use it with broccoli, get a family size box of Rice-a-Roni (we like chicken flavor) and brown that in your skillet first like the directions say. Cook your broccoli in a pan at the same time. Make your sauce, then mix in canned chicken or chicken you like, the sauce, rice-a-roni broccoli on top, and cut some velveeta cheese for the top. Melt in the oven. Our family loves it! Now I'll have to try it with your sauce recipe!

I love this!!! One thing I have altered is that I don't add the bouillon to the powder. I add it to the water first and then add the soup mixture. That way if Want to use it with a beef recipe I can add beef bouillon or chix for chix recipes!

Our family loves this! I use it in my green bean casserole (with home canned green beans) and it gives it such great flavor! I used up the last of my mix for Easter, so, I will b making more today. I think the macaroni bake sounds like a good plan for dinner tonight (and I'll be making a little extra for a freezer meal for after this baby is born). :)

I love this!! I will be using this for sure! I also started following your blog which I found on Pinterest and I am just as addicted! I have a blog as well which I just started so there isn't much on there yet please follow me! Have a blessed day!

I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. I'm trying not to buy the canned condensed soups because of the ingredients, and I also dislike mushrooms, so the cream-of-mushroom-soup idea is not appealing anyway. I really appreciate this alternative--works great!

This is faubulous!! I made the base of mixer and will add bouillon flavor at time of cooking according to flavor I am wanting. I will mix 4-5 cubes or tsp to each serving :) Thanks again for the recipe I am making Stroganoff tonight and will add beef bouillon.

Best way I have found to incorporate Broccoli in any dish , is to chop finely and mix it with the ground beef when browning the meat. O finely chop it up or food processor, and add it to any "cream of" soups, any recipes. I have done it that way for years, and my kids LOVE it I have even added it that way to a Green Salad, and they liked it. Food Processor broccoli and carrots and cauliflower together.

Thank you so much for the recipe. We have moved to Southeast Asia and the only place I can find products from home is a 5 hour drive. I usually bring a some when I go back home but it makes the suitcase pretty heavy. Thanks again

Love this! Thank you for sharing this. I was just looking for something to replace the cream of soup. I make the broccoli really small so it gets soft like the rest of the food. I also hide cauliflower in dishes like this as it takes on the taste and look like the food it is cooked with.

I made this and added some freeze dried mushrooms to make it Cream of Mushroom soup mix. I whirled the slices of mushrooms in the food processor to make it little bits of mushroom like it is in Campbell's soup. Fantastic!

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